3 Strikes
A baseball-like game played for very expensive cars. Gameplay The contestant is shown eight chips, five of which have a unique digit representing one of the five numbers in the price of the car, and three red chips that each have an X, called a strike. The chips are placed into a bag and shuffled. The contestant blindly draws a chip from the bag. If they pick a number, they must decide in which position (spot) that digit belongs (e.g.: "the third digit"). If they are correct, the chip is discarded into a slot in the game board and the digit is lit up in the price display. If they are incorrect, the chip is returned to the bag and the contestant needs to draw again. If the contestant draws the strike, a strike marker is lit on the board and the chip is discarded into the slot. The contestant may continue to draw as many times as possible until they either correctly position each digit in the price and win the car or draw the three strikes and lose the game. History The game first premiered on February 12, 1976. Over time the props used in this game have had additional references to baseball added to them. The three baseballs on the game prop were added in the early 1980s and the current bag from which chips are drawn was made to look like a baseball in 1990. The baseball "NO" graphic (used when the contestant guesses a position incorrectly) was only used from 1998 through 2002, replacing a prior graphic consisting of "NO" inside a black circle that was used from the late 1980s until 1998. From the game's debut until the late 1980s, only a buzzer was used. The Davidson version used a different graphic for this situation, which showed a red outline of the selected number window melting off the board and falling to the floor. From 2002-2008, the "NO" graphic was simply the word "NO" in large red letters. The current graphic is simply the word "NO" on a large red circle with a slash drawn through it (similar to the "No Smoking" sign). Also, from the game's debut until 2002, the camera would zoom in on the selected rectangle when a contestant made a guess as to the position of the drawn digit. In addition to the changes mentioned above, the 3 Strikes sign went from green to gold in the late 1970s. Sometime in the 1990s, the dollar sign tacked onto the side of the board was replaced by a window with a dollar sign. Through the early 1990s, the game was played using both four- and five-digit cars. Except for the first few times it was done, when five-digit cars were offered, the game was known as "3 Strikes +". Even though four-digit cars were no longer used in the game after June 17, 1993, it retained the "3 Strikes +" name until February 10, 1994 (although the + sign was absent on January 27, 1994). This game was played for the most valuable prize in the history of the daytime version of The Price is Right on April 25, 2013 as part of the 2013 "Big Money Week": a Ferrari Spider worth $285,716. For the gameplay, all six windows hid the numbers of the price, and a new dollar sign light was added to the outside of the first window. Unfortunately, the contestant didn't win (or even get a single number right.) Suspected cheaters On February 28, 1992, a contestant had two chips remaining in the bag, a strike and the last number. She partially drew a chip out of the bag, then quickly put it back in before anyone else could see what it was. A few seconds later, she drew the number and won. Although the show's staff has never publicly accused the contestant of cheating, 3 Strikes + was not played again for the remainder of the season. At the start of Season 21, the three strike chips were repainted white with a red X to more closely resemble the numeric chips, and a new baseball-shaped bag that was harder to peek into was made for the game to further prevent such cheating. The strikes reverted to their familiar red color after a few playings into Season 21. A contestant also attempted to cheat in 1988. As she began to pull the third strike out of the bag, she put it back, thinking no one noticed. Bob Barker did notice and chided her for her actions. She pulled the third strike all the way out of the bag on a later draw and lost the game. Rule Changes From the game's debut until 1997 (Season 26), three strike chips were placed into the bag at the start of the game. If a contestant drew a strike, a marker was lit on the board and that strike chip was discarded from the bag. The change of having one strike chip in the bag was made to increase the win rate for the game, which had decreased because of the extra fifth digit from using cars priced above $10,000. In 1998, to increase the game's win rate, the rules were changed to allow only one strike; if drawn, the strike would be returned to the bag, and the contestant had to draw the strike three times to lose the game. When the game premiered in 1976, cars only had four digits in the price, and therefore a contestant was given four numbered chips and three strike chips. As the prices of cars increased past $10,000, no changes were made to the game to accommodate the extra fifth numeric chip until Season 26. From 1993 through 2008, the game was almost exclusively played for cars between $30,000 - $60,000. For a brief period in 2008, the contestant was given the first digit for free and was only supposed to guess the last four digits, and the game offered cars with prices in line with other games played for cars. The one-strike rule was in effect at the time. The game reverted back to its regular rules after a few playings under those rules. The game generally takes longer to play than other pricing games, which led to a rule change implemented at the beginning of Season 37 in 2008. The second time the game was played that season, three strike chips were used and the first number was provided for free. The number of strike chips placed into the bag then reverted back to one after this single playing; however, the contestant was still given the first digit in the car's price at the start of the game. When the game was first played in Season 38 in 2009, the game reverted to its pre-1998 rules (five numbered chips, three strike chips, no free numbers), and once again offered cars between $30,000 - $60,000. Nighttime Appearances 3 Strikes was one of five pricing games introduced in the fifth and final nighttime season hosted by Dennis James – the other four being Cliff Hangers, Danger Price, Dice Game, and Hurdles. On The New Price is Right, the first digit in the price was given for free and there were only four number chips in the bag. Also, a wrong guess is indicated by a red border in the price's position "melting" to the ground. Pictures 3 Strikes 1a.jpg|3 Strikes from 1977. Notice the green letters at the top. 3 Strikes 1b.jpg|Later, the words would be converted to gold. TPIR 01.PNG|From 1988, when four-and-five digit cars were offered in tandem. Note the 3 baseballs added to the board. 3 Strikes 2a.jpg|Five-digit 3 Strikes in 1996 (this time without the "+"). Note the window with the dollar sign, and the baseball-shaped bag that holds the chips. 3 Strikes 2b.jpg|The completed price TPIR 02.PNG|This is what 3 Strikes looks like today. Screenshot (9).png|Here's the board set up to show 6 digits, to play for a Ferrari Spider. To accommodate, the dollar sign was moved to the left of the board. 80s.jpg|The Old "NO" Sign TPIR 05.PNG|The 2nd "NO" Sign TPIR 04.PNG|The 3rd "NO" Sign TPIR 03.PNG|The "NO" sign today. Category:Pricing Games Category:Active Games